The Missouri Senate has confirmed Rep. Jim Avery, R-Crestwood, as chairman of the State Board of Mediation for a term ending April 1, 2011.

The State Board of Mediation is the administrative agency for the state’s Public Sector Labor Law and is charged with the responsibility of determining an appropriate bargaining unit of public employees and with determining majority representative status by conducting an election.

“I look forward to working to help effectively resolve issues that employees in Missouri’s public sector are facing, and I am committed to maintaining the highest degree of professionalism and neutrality,” he stated in a news release.

The board is comprised of five members, including Avery, who will be the full-time chairman.

In addition, two board members are re-quired to be employers of labor or selected from an association representing employers of labor, and two board members must be employees holding membership in a trade or labor union.

Avery has served as a state representative in the 95th District since 2002. He served in the Marine Corps from 1991 to 1993 in “Operation Restore Hope” in Somalia.

Avery is a member of the Missouri National Guard and in 2004 and 2005 served with A Company of the 1140th Engineer Battalion in “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”